Pu Travers Sa Dilo in Mauritian Creole ‘To cross this water’ is a fabric based sculptural installation, presented as two diamond shaped Kanga fabrics. The works feature archival images of Creole musicians, Swahili dhows, illustrations of early European expeditions on the east African coast, and captured slave ships. This is composed along side recently documented photographs of maroon forests, indigenous trees, and the swell of the Indian Ocean, all observed from different locations around the region. This new works continues to open the themes of survival and resistance, thinking through language and music, as counters to reductive readings of the region, and ultimately alluding to creolisation as a pathway.
Pu Travers Sa Dilo (To cross this water)
Commissioned by Christine Eyene + British Council, Casablanca 2023